6 Essential Softwares & Equipments for a Transcriptionist

by Carey on March 21, 2010
in Transcription

If you are looking for a work at home job transcription is a very viable and reasonable choice. While you may already have the bare necesities like a computer with internet connection, there are a few more essential softwares to get you started and running.

MS Office/Open Office: This is of vital importance as you need a word processor to type the dictations on to. You may opt for MS Office, which is a paid software or download Open Office which is free.
Philip’s SpeechMike or Express Scribe: To play the audio files you need an audio player like Philip’s SpeechMike, which is not free or Express Scribe, which is free.
Email: It is essential to have an email account – for the client to send you the audio files and for you to send the transcripts back to the client. While there are many options for free email like Gmail, its better if you have one with your own domain, eg mine is careysuante@transcriptionistforbloggers.com. It looks more professional.
FTP: While there are client who prefer emails to send and receive audios and transcripts, other may require you to have an FTP server. Or, they may allow you to access their FTP to get audios and give them the transcripts back.
Foot pedal: While you transcibe an audio file, both your hands are busy typing so it is essential to have a foot pedal to control the audio player. It is not possible to listen to an audio and type everything out simultaneously, so the rewind and playback on the player is controlled by the foot pedal without the need for your hands!
Headphone: You may have a speaker set up with you computer but it is common practice to listen to audios using headphones.

Some more softwares that are really helpful, IMO:

WordWeb: This is a free software (with a paid version as an option). The description on the site reads - WordWeb is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows that can look up words in almost any program. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

CCleaner: This is a free software basically to optimize and clean your computer system. Although not directly used for transcription, it helps keep my computer fit and sturdy! Download link here.

Are there any software or equipment I missed? What other softwares do you find essential or useful as a freelance transcriptionist?